Kestrel Eggs Appearing in Ulster County
Yesterday was my day to make the rounds of the nest boxes and check for eggs. Since rain was forecasted for today (correctly) and I hadn't checked most boxes for about 10 days, I needed to see nest contents before clutches were complete, which typically takes 9 days. I was really hoping for eggs and was not disappointed. Five of the boxes had either one or two eggs. Here's what the inside of three boxes looked like yesterday: The female from the box with two eggs likely began laying, at the earliest, on 20 April. An average clutch is 5 eggs, so if she lays one egg every other day, her clutch should be complete around 29 April and her eggs should hatch sometime around 1 June (incubation takes about a month). Box checks with incomplete clutches are ideal, because now I know roughly when incubation will start and the eggs will hatch. If my first look at eggs was of a complete clutch, the female could have completed yesterday or a week ago...not ideal. I